Rising to the Occasion
by LordFrieza
Summary: Set in the timeline of "A Promise that can not be kept" Naruto finds that not only can he never be with Sakura, but she isn't even meant for him. He finds that Hinata not only likes him but that they are soul mates.
1. Learning of a new life

Rising to the Occasion (Naruto's so called near adult life)

By LordFrieza aka Chris

(This Story takes place after "A promise that can not be kept". In this story basically it goes on the notion that Sasuke isn't coming back to the leaf village. With that thought I thought I still needed some insperation before I began. I found it in a picture I found on Deviant art. The pics url is http://tn3-2. . The basic idea is that Naruto finally finds that nothing he does is ever going to get Sakura to like him the way that he likes her. This realization actually makes things even more clear for him and makes him stronger than before. But enough with that. On with the story.)

Naruto looked down on the Leaf Village from his vantage point on top of the carving of the third Hokage's face in the mountain.

"Sasuke... Damn it... Why did you have to sell your soul to that monster Orochimaru?" He thought to himself.

The events of his mission ran through his mind. They had been sent to get Sasuke back at all costs and instead Sasuke had betrayed their trusts. More to the point Sasuke had finally proved that the only thing important to him was killing his brother no matter what the cost was. Naruto growled at realization that his friend would never be his friend again. He had tried and tried to get Sasuke back, but the only way he was going to bring Sasuke back was to kill him.

"That means that keeping my promise to Sakura means driving her away." he thought as he began to jump down the mountain. After a few well placed steps he landed on the base of the mountain and began to walk toward the center of the Village. He faced the ground as he walked completely oblivious of the world around him until he bumped into Sakura. His eyes came up from the ground and he saw the girl who had been the vision of his love for the past couple of years.

"Hi Sakura..." Naruto said sheeplishly. "Hi Naruto..." She said in a distant tone of voice. He looked at her and could see that she looked lost. "You know I haven't given up on getting Sasuke back." Naruto said in his normal confident voice. "Naruto it's alright... Kakashi sensai explained that the only way Sasuke would come back was if he was killed. He said that Sasuke is dead to all of us now and that he won't hesitate to kill any of us." she said as she began to cry. "Sakura... there's still hope that we can... " he was saying before he cut it short as he watched Sakura ball up her fists and then scream into the air. "Don't you understand you IDIOT?! Sasuke, MY SASUKE is dead to everyone here!!!!" She screamed as she ran off. There was something strange for Naruto. Normally he would've ran after Sakura and told her it would be alright, but right now he felt bitter toward her. He had nearly killed himself to get Sasuke back, he had went through hell and back for her would be boyfriend and she was no more grateful than the first day she met him. "Whatever I don't need this." He thought as he ran toward the small apartment that he stayed in.

Once inside Naruto grabbed a cup of instant Raman and followed the instructions to the letter. Sliently he grumbled to himself about what had happened between himself and Sakura. He was nearing complete anger until he heard a scream and a thud outside. He walked out in time to see Hinata laying on the ground and what looked like figure running off in the distance. Naruto ran to Hinata and knelt down beside her. "Hinata are you alright?" he asked.

"Naruto kun... Yes I am alright now. Who was that?" She asked. "I don't know but I will find out." He said as he took off after her attacker. After a few moments Naruto had found her attacker and noticed that it was a flunky from the leaf village. He recognized the guy as the one person who had done worse than he had at the final exams when they took it and thus had never became a ninja. "What where you trying to do to Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"None of your concern boy." The man answered. In his hand he held a small vial of Hinata's blood and some of her hair. "She's my friend and that makes it my concern!" he shouted. In truth Naruto felt himself being pissed already and planned on beating this guy senseless. "If you got to know pipsqueak I plan on having her cloned and selling the clone to Orochimaru. I know that he wanted a body from Neji's Clan and this was the easiest way of getting it done." The man said as he pulled his mask off. Naruto gritted his teeth at the sound of Orochimaru's name and jumped down to the fool standing infront of him. He watched as the man pulled his hands into a strange possition. "So lets end this quick. I need my money and acceptance into the Sound Village." He said as he rushed Naruto. "Wolf Fang Fist!" The man shouted as he ran. At that instant both of the man's hands glowed a bright blue and Naruto barely managed to jump out of the way. Naruto pulled his hands together and looked at the man infront of him. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as litterly thousands of clones of himself stood there. In an instant they all began attacking the stranger and had him on the ground groaning from the pain after a few moments. He collected Hinata's blood and hair then walked back toward where he had left Hinata laying.

"Hinata he had tried to take this from you."He said as village police finally arrived and Naruto told them where the attacker was. She took the blood and hair from him and looked at him. "Thank you Naruto kun." She said slightly embarrased at how weak she seemed now. "It's alright Hinata... Look it's late and since you're already on this side of the village why don't you come up and have some dinner. That way we can make sure that no one else is trying to follow you." He said. She nodded and followed him up to the small apartment. She looked around and noticed that Naruto wasn't exactly tidy but at least he had managed to keep a place for himself. He walked over and fixed her a cup of instant Raman and handed it to her. "Here you go. This is one of my favorites!" He said as he handed it to her. She smiled and took the cup in hand. In truth she was use to a larger selection of food, but it was kind of Naruto to share what he had with her. As they ate she looked at Naruto and noticed that unlike the other boys he seemed more toned. She began to guess that it was because of all of the training that he did to become Hokage.

"Hinata what where you doing out here?" Naruto asked. She blushed and finally looked at him. "I heard you talking with Sakura and I wanted to see if you where alright." She said. He sat there for a moment and then began to put the facts together. Hinata was concerned about him. She was going after him just to see if he was alright the way that he was about Sakura. "Hinata... If this sounds strange and weird then forget that I said anything about it, but do you like me?" He asked. "Naruto... I've always liked you, but I... I don't know how you feel." she answered.

The response hit Naruto like a ton of bricks. He had been chasing after Sakura, but Hinata had liked him the entire time. Suddenly he felt stupid for chasing after Sakura. The more he thought about it the more apparent it became that Sakura wasn't only not interested in him, but she wasn't meant for him. "Hinata, maybe we can go out sometime or another." He said as he watched her blush a brighter red.

(three years later.)

Hinata looked out from campus apartment she was now in. Her going out with Naruto had angered her family. More to the point it had caused her to be an outcast much like Naruto had been, but now she was more assertive. She felt more empowered now than ever before. It seemed that being with Naruto had brought out the best in her. In truth she had grown so much in her skills as a ninja that she was becoming a Chunin. Her sensai had watched her gain so much power that she tested Hinata unknowingly and Hinata had passed. The test was in fact a personalized version of the Chunin exam and since she had passed her sensai had requested that she be made a Chunin. She smiled to herself knowing that if she hadn't ended up with Naruto she would never have gotten has far as she had.

"Hinata are you in?" Naruto shouted. She ran toward the door and opened it. "I'm here Naruto!" She said a little excited. "I heard the great news when I got back congratulations!!" He said She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. After a few moments they kissed. Naruto felt her lips against his and wondered why he had spent so much time on Sakura. It was obvious that Hinata not only cared for him, but loved him the way that he loved her. Their kissing soon turned to light petting and before either knew what was happening they ended up in bed. Naruto looked over at Hinata after their journey and exploration of each other's bodies. He touched her cheek and she sighed with satification. "It will always be like this right Naruto?" she asked. "Of course we're always going to be together." Naruto said as they laid in bed. She rubbed his chest for a moment and curled up next to him.

(2 months later)

Hinata paced the floor slightly. She waited for the test to come back and tell her what she already feared. Naruto and herself had been active for a while and she noticed that she wasn't having her visitor as her mother had called it in a couple of months. That meant that she was carrying Naruto's child and more to the point it meant that everything was going to change for both her and Naruto forever.


	2. Enter the missions

(Sorry for the short chapter update but I have a lot going on with College and stuff.)

Hinata wondered what Naruto would do when he found out. At first she became so tense and then finally she looked at the test and saw the confirmation to what she had wondered. "Oh Naruto... I hope that he's like you." She thought to herself. She walked to the mirror and straightened her hair. "I don't want to tell him yet, but I want him to know. I guess that I could go and see Kakashi sensai, and see what he thinks about it all." She thought to herself.

(At the Hokage office)

"So what are you needing Grandma Tsunade?" Naruto asked. "Naruto I am needing all of the ninja in the area to go out into the field. We've received reports about rouge ninjas much like the one you caught attacking Hinata a couple of years ago. These ninja are calling themselves death dealers. So far the attacks have just been outside of the village, but it is obvious that they are attacking families related to families that are considered some what powerful. It is our belief that they may be working for Orochimaru." She said looking at Naruto.

Naruto looked at the window his fists balling up in rage. The mention of Orochimaru was enough to get his blood boiling. He wanted to punish the evil ninja for what he had done to his friends, for tricking Sasuke, and for killing the old man. He turned toward her. "When do I leave?" He asked. "Naruto the mission I have for you is a little more complicated than just investigating the last place hit by the death dealers; I need you to go and stake out Hinata's family summer home outside of the village and wait. The death dealers will be hitting there sooner or later. When they do I want you to follow them to their base of operations. Once you have found where they are reporting back to I want you to return and we will send out a team to deal with them." Lady Tsunade told him.

Naruto nodded and took off toward the western edge of the leaf village. He knew that was where Hinata's family's summer home was located at. She had pointed it out to him once when they where dating. He landed outside of it and stayed far enough back to be out of their line of sight. Once there he waited to see if the death dealers would show up and then he would be completing his mission.

(At the bookstore near the hokage monument.)

Hinata stood outside of the book store waiting for Kakashi sensai to come out. She had seen him going in to buy his love novel and knew that it would be a little bit before he returned outside. After several minutes of waiting she was rewarded with Kakashi walking out holding a new novel. "Kakashi sensai?" she said in a questioning tone. "Hinata, what are you doing here? Are you looking to get the newest novel? It's quite good, but a little more fluff than I am use to." Kakashi said as he walked near where she was. "No it is about Naruto and myself." she said as she walked beside him. "Oh has the lunkhead done something?" Kakashi asked as he read his new novel. "Please don't call him that, and this was as much my doing as his." She said. At that Kakashi stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "How long have you known?" he asked. "Only for certain a couple of hours. I don't know how to tell Naruto." She said. "He is a good choice Hinata despite what your family said about him. I know that he will do everything possible to stay and be a good father. However I fear that your child will be shun by many of the people here. Not just because of what Naruto carries inside of him, but also because of how strong Naruto has grown in the past few years." Kakashi said. He then smiled and patted her belly. "But to tell him just hand him a bag of infant clothes. If that doesn't do it then send him to me and I will explain it to him." He said as he continued on his way.


End file.
